It's that time of year again. Thoughts turn to building snowmen,
getting out of work or school due to snow/ice, and what to get Aunt
Maggie this year. It will be hard to top the salad shooter you gave her
last year, but you resolve to try. The Practical Mac will endeavor to
assist you in your holiday gift-buying. Here are a few suggestions for
the people on your gift list. Most are suitable for the
budget-conscious, but a few are probably better purchased on the easy
payment plan.*
A lot of us have held off on making this upgrade due to the cost. If
you know someone like this, why not get them the gift they won't/can't
buy for themselves! List price is $129, but it can often be found for
less.
This is not just another MP3 player. In conjunction with
applications such as iSync, Address Book, and iCal, it has much of the
functionality of a Palm handheld, with much more storage capacity.
Prices are $299, $399, or $499 depending on the hard drive capacity (5,
10, or 20 GB). Refurbished units (when you can find them) are sometimes
as much as $100 less.
The entry-level Palm handheld, the Zire has a suggested list price
of $99 and can be readily purchased for $5-$10 less. It does not do
email, but otherwise has most of the functionality of its higher-priced
cousins.
Kingston USB 6-in-1 flash memory card reader/writer
Accepts CompactFlash card, SmartMedia card, MultiMediaCard, Secure
Digital card, Memory Stick, and IBM MicroDrive. Best of all, it is only
$29!
Plug the irock 300W into the headphone jack of an MP3 player or
portable device (such as the Apple iPod) and transmit to your FM stereo
in any of four preset frequencies. Great for use at home or in the car.
$29
Lists for $119; readily available for under
$100. Fully 802.11b compliant - AirPort on the cheap!
Fujifilm 32 MB USB Storage Key Drive
The Fujifilm USB Drive simply plugs into a computer's USB port and
becomes an external drive. Saving files to it is just like saving files
to a hard drive; files can be saved directly to the drive or can be
copied onto it by dragging and dropping. Despite its miniature size and
light weight, once plugged into a USB port of a computer, the Fujifilm
USB Drive will act like any other external storage device. The Fujifilm
USB Drive supports complete and instantaneous plug and play
interoperability on the latest Windows, Mac, and Linux operating
systems, with no software drivers required. $39.99
Fireblaster 16x10x40x External Firewire CD-RW Drive
For adding a CD-RW drive to your Mac, this is an affordable
alternative to replacing the original CD or DVD drive (not to mention
the fact that installation is much easier than opening up that CRT
iMac). $89.99 after rebate. For older Macs without a FireWire port, try
the Iomega CD-RW 24x10x40 USB 2.0 drive (compatible with USB 1.1) for
$138.99.
The entry-level all-in-one eMac is now $999 (after rebate)
at the Apple Store. A Mac with a G4 processor for under $1,000 is
absolute astounding.
The entry-level iBook is now $999 at the
Apple Store. An Apple notebook for under $1,000 is equally
astounding!
* All prices are approximate and are given as of the
time of writing. Subject to change without notice.
Clarification: In
last week's article, I
implied that Move2Mac dumped all the files not in the "My" folders on
the PC into the "Migrated PC FIles" folder on the Mac, when it actually
recreates the same folder structure on the Mac as on the PC and puts
that under Migrated PC Files. What's more, if you have a C and D drive
on the PC, it creates the folder structure on the Mac as Migrated PC
Files/C Drive/... and Migrated PC Files/D Drive/....
The net result is that your files are in folders of the same names
under these top level names, making it easier to find than than if it
had just dumped them all into one folder. I knew this, because I had a
number of files and directories which were migrated in this manner. I
apologize for not making that clear in the article.
